Every year they doze it skinnier and skinnier. Rumor has it 40 or so folk have gone off the edge and it is a long way down. Most of the trail is very moderate 4wd, but when you get to the switchbacks going down into Telluride you know you're nowhere near Kansas anymore.

As long as you're out this way, definitely do Poughkeepsie Gulch. It's off of Engineer Pass. If you do make it up the Wall, hang around for an hour or so and watch the show. That obstacle seems to bring out the crazy in most of the visiting Texans.:-)[Reply]

I did it about six years ago. What made my trip even more memorable was that I had my clutch linkage break on my CJ7 just after starting down. Had to stop at each turn to put it into reverse or forward and then start it in gear. Made for an exiting trip.[Reply]

Went (riding with a buddy) down it in 2004. I didn't think it was that bad... but again I wasn't driving and we were following an XJ driven by someone who had been down it a couple of times. So with a good spotter on the switchbacks it is not that bad. Yeah, you have to make 3 and 4 point turns, so a steady foot on the clutch is a good thing. But the scenery is worth the pucker. Take a camera and take lots of pictures.[Reply]

Originally Posted by airric00:
When does the passes usually open down there???

Last year we couldn't get through until the first of July. And then they finally drove snow cutters through them because the Jeep tours and Jeep rental companies were losing so much money. Let me know when you're coming down. That is if you don't mind yokel form the area riding along.[Reply]

Originally Posted by seer:
Every year they doze it skinnier and skinnier. Rumor has it 40 or so folk have gone off the edge and it is a long way down. Most of the trail is very moderate 4wd, but when you get to the switchbacks going down into Telluride you know you're nowhere near Kansas anymore.

Last time I went down there we came upon a rollover on Imogene Pass, just as the rescue crews got there. Three people died, one survived. Earlier that year someone slipped off Blackbear, killing two. On the Imogene rollover, it was assumed the vehicle pulled over to let someone else by. The Blackbear rollover was blamed on a rain storm.

Originally Posted by seer:
As long as you're out this way, definitely do Poughkeepsie Gulch. It's off of Engineer Pass. If you do make it up the Wall, hang around for an hour or so and watch the show. That obstacle seems to bring out the crazy in most of the visiting Texans.:-)

One time on Poughkeepsie, we got to the wall and pulled over to scope it out. As we were figuring out our lines, a couple four wheelers approached. The first one ran the wall right were we were standing. We grabbed the front of the four wheeler just as it was starting to roll. We were able to drag him to the top. His buddy, watching this, decides to try a different wall, not near us. He gets 1/2 way up, and rolls his four wheeler. Unfortunately, it rolled back onto its wheels. The four wheeler then takes off on its own back down the hill, fast! Luckily for him, the four wheeler stopped when it hit the front of my wife's XJ. At least I ended up with an ARB front bumper for the XJ after the insurance companies settled!

Originally Posted by seer:
Last year we couldn't get through until the first of July. And then they finally drove snow cutters through them because the Jeep tours and Jeep rental companies were losing so much money. Let me know when you're coming down. That is if you don't mind yokel form the area riding along.

For sure man... I will put a trip on the Calendar for July sometime to be safe. If it opens earlier let me know :-)

Originally Posted by :
One time on Poughkeepsie, we got to the wall and pulled over to scope it out. As we were figuring out our lines, a couple four wheelers approached. The first one ran the wall right were we were standing. We grabbed the front of the four wheeler just as it was starting to roll. We were able to drag him to the top. His buddy, watching this, decides to try a different wall, not near us. He gets 1/2 way up, and rolls his four wheeler. Unfortunately, it rolled back onto its wheels. The four wheeler then takes off on its own back down the hill, fast! Luckily for him, the four wheeler stopped when it hit the front of my wife's XJ. At least I ended up with an ARB front bumper for the XJ after the insurance companies settled!

And yes, the four wheelers were from Texas

peter

I am sure you get a lot of YAHOO's from Texas there... Sounds like fun![Reply]

Probably a lot of "Texans" that think y'all are Freakin Krazy. I love a good "pucker" as much as any wheeler, the feeling of one wheel in the air, etc...But those pics (especially the old Warn blk & wht) are too much. I'll wheel just about anywhere for some good scenery and companionship, but that ledge looks like zero room for error (driver or mechanical). If you go over the edge, try to land on your enormous nutz to cushion the fall.

Originally Posted by StubEXrube:
I guess turning around at the top to come back down is what scares people the most.

First time I did LB was about a 27 point turn with 4 spotters and I was scared out of my wits.
Second time was about a 7 point turn with one spotter.
Third time I was first up and did a 3 point turn with no spotters (in an H2 with a bad turing radius).[Reply]

Originally Posted by airric00:
I don't think its that bad... I bet the people that went over had no clue what they were doing.

This is a copy of an article from the Denver Post of the Imogene accident:

Originally Posted by :
Colorado Springs - A Colorado Springs couple were killed and their son and a friend were seriously injured when their Jeep Grand Cherokee rolled off a mountain trail on Colorado's Western Slope.
Daniel Gluklick, 50, and his wife, Jeanine, 47, died at the scene Saturday when their sport-utility vehicle rolled about 800 feet down a mountain, said Sgt. Lawrence Oletski of the Colorado State Patrol.

Cole Gluklick, 11, and Ian Nordstrom, a boy whose age wasn't available, suffered multiple injuries and were airlifted to St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction.

All four were ejected as the Jeep went down the embankment, according to the accident report. None were wearing seat belts, Oletski said.

The accident happened on Forest Service Road 869 on Imogene Pass, about 3 1/2 miles east of Telluride, Oletski said. The pass is 12,000 feet in altitude.

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Gluklick was in critical condition and Nordstrom was said to be in serious but stable condition Sunday.

The initial investigation has ruled out weather, speed and alcohol consumption as possible causes of the accident.

"At this point it looks like unfamiliarity with the road," Oletski said.

Edward Gluklick, Daniel's father, said his son was an experienced trail driver. It was an activity the family did a lot, he said at his Michigan home.

"He was a very skilled driver," the elder Gluklick said of his son. "Something really strange and unusual must have happened for him to lose control."

Edward Gluklick said Daniel did classified work for the military and worked on cars in his spare time.

The couple have two teenage daughters, Edward Gluklick said. He identified them as Corinne, 18, and Chloe, 15.

"He was very much an asset in everything he set out to do, and he was my best friend as well as my son," Edward Gluklick said.

He described his daughter-in-law as "absolutely delightful" and "a wonderful mother."

The news came as a shock to close neighbors of the family.

Bob and Cindy Sabol said the small acreage Gluklick lived on in the Black Forest area didn't have a house on it when the family moved in about eight years ago.

They lived in a garage, heated with a wood stove, cooked on a Coleman stove and divided the single room with sheets for a year while they built their home, Bob Sabol said.

Neighbors kiddingly called them "the pioneers."

They had horses, dogs and goats. Jeanine Gluklick raised Cashmere goats competitively and sold the wool locally.

Jeanine also ran a small day-care out of her home, and the boy with them in the accident was a youngster she had cared for since he was an infant, Cindy Sabol said.

The Gluklick's were described as "a strong family unit" that often participated in activities together.

They actually rolled the ZJ by driving too far up the uphill side to let someone around, rolling onto the road, and then off. When we got there, there was a still a block of ice from their cooler in the middle of the road, and the two dogs wondering around.

I can't find a good article of the Blackbear accident, but I am pretty sure they part of a jeep club and were pretty experienced as well.

Sorry to keep dragging this up, but it is just a reminder to be careful out there!